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Coming to Toronto’s libraries: video games

The public library is seeking up to $300,000 to create a game collection and gaming stations at multiple branches.

Youths and staff member Randy Jarvis, in the purple shirt, enjoy Rock Band together at a video game event at the Pickering Public Library.

By Jesse McLeanStaff Reporter

Tues., March 23, 2010

Make room, Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn, Sonic the Hedgehog is moving in.

The Toronto Public Library is searching for close to $300,000 to start a circulating video game collection, as well as to set up gaming programs at eight branches across the city.

There’s method in what sounds like madness for a library: Players can learn literacy and problem-solving skills through the games themselves, while the gaming programs will convert the library into a hub for youths who would otherwise never consider entering one.

“It may be the only time a young person comes in. It can act as a magnet to attract people,” said city Councillor Adam Vaughan, who sits on the library’s board.

“Once we get them in there, you can be darn sure that our librarians will be hard at work to introduce them to everything else the library can offer.”

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As video games are embraced at some libraries across North America, traditionalists are cocking eyebrows, wondering whether books are getting shafted.

Among the gaming supporters, there is a debate about what kind to offer. Should libraries limit themselves to family games, where participants can go head-to-head in dance competitions and Pokemon battles?

Or should they appeal to all ages and offer the likes of Grand Theft Auto, where the player can run down police officers in a stolen car?

“The libraries have to really consider the social implications of what they’re offering,” said Bruce Ballon, who heads a clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health that treats adolescents addicted to the Internet and video games.

“It could be great ... It’s just making sure it’s done in a healthy way.”

The Toronto library has been auditioning gaming programs at two branches for some time, said chief librarian Jane Pyper. Younger staff at East York’s S. Walter Stewart branch, as well as at the Bloor/Gladstone branch, pitched the idea as a way to draw new people through the doors.

The libraries host occasional events where youth and parents alike play Guitar Hero or a Nintendo racing game.

However, the Toronto library is just beginning to catch up with library systems across the continent, from New York City to Pickering — whose library has offered game loans for about five years.

The central library in Ann Arbour, Mich., began hosting gaming events in 2004. Now, upwards of 100 people turn out several times a month to play.

“The events turn non-library users into library users. It’s not so important how they use the library, it’s that they use it,” said Eli Neiburger, an associate director for the library’s IT department who organizes the events.

There is a growing body of research that says some video games promote literacy. Not only do players have to read the text to pass the level, but they learn to quickly decode abstract meaning from symbols, Neiburger said.

“Pokemon has more texts in it than your some grade school curriculums,” he said. “The games aren’t at the expense of traditional literacy; it’s in addition to traditional literacy.”

Meanwhile, games grounded in history can turn children onto books on the subject, says Cheryl Olson, co-author of Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games.

In Guilderland, N.Y., the number of books borrowed by teens jumped 20 per cent after the libraries launched their video game collection.

Yet, many libraries that carry the games avoid ones with mature subject matter, saying they have no place in the public forum.

Toronto, like Pickering, would provide games for all ages, Pyper said, although youths won’t be allowed to check out adult-rated discs.

There will be upwards of 150 titles and the games will be available at 38 branches.

The game selection, however, is still far away. If the library can’t raise the funds, the games and the consoles won’t be purchased this year.

“Right now, this is a plan, not a reality,” Pyper said.

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